


The Making of a God-Headed Hydra: A Scholarly Examination

by yhlee (etothey)



Category: Steve Jackson's Sorcery! - Steve Jackson
Genre: Gen, Worldbuilding, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2017-10-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 15:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12345702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etothey/pseuds/yhlee
Summary: Adventurers come and Adventurers go, but academia is forever.Thanks to Borusa for the beta.





	The Making of a God-Headed Hydra: A Scholarly Examination

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wasuremono](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wasuremono/gifts).



After the defeat of the Archmage of Mampang, the hero known simply as _the Analander_ left very little in the way of records. It is known, for instance, that the Analander confronted a fearsome Manticore in the Shamutanti Hills, and survived encounters with malicious Red-Eyes in the notorious cityport of Kharé, and defeated the seven Serpents that were the Archmage's most loyal servants. But we do not know many things about the Analander: their parentage, their favorite type of Provisions, whether they were a wizard or a warrior.

Nevertheless, an expedition of archaeologists who visited Mampang in the latter days, long after it had ceased to be a habitation for Mucalytics and Hobgoblins and stranger creatures besides, did discover certain clues in the ruins of the ancient fortress. In particular, they unearthed what is believed to be a folk tradition that the Analander defeated a being known only as the _God-Headed Hydra_. Even better, there appears to be textual evidence--preserved in parchment scraps and palimpsests, some only recently deciphered--that this God-Headed Hydra is connected to the old tales of the Archmage and how he created the Serpents. (For specifics, we refer you to Dinanna's  Epics of the Baklands, available in several fine translations as well as the original Mauristatian.)

With this in mind, certain new details have come to light.

First, it appears that the Archmage's famous two-day battle with the original Hydra of Avanti Wood was merely a prelude to a much more elaborate plan. Despite the injuries the Archmage sustained, he was able to successfully remove the Hydra's seven heads. These he preserved for the journey back to Mampang in an embalming liquid composed of purest snowmelt from the Zanzunu Peaks, unholy water gathered from desecrated temples, powdered alabaster, and Firefox blood. Moreover, certain dire sacrifices were performed in order to preserve the life-principle in the seven heads until he could complete the ritual.

In the meantime, a team of his most trusted Birdmen were entrusted with the unenviable task of dragging the corpse of the luckless Hydra to Mampang. It is not known why the Archmage did not employ his not inconsiderable magics for the task. Perhaps the strain of maintaining the life-principle in the seven heads was too much for even such as he. Regardless, the archaeologists have excavated the partial skeleton of the Hydra, much gnawed over (the tooth marks were almost certainly caused by Goblins and the like), in one of the larger rooms in the fortress. Several of the vertebrae were discovered not far from a cook-pot. One can only speculate as to their culinary function. (A paper on the foodways of Mampang Fortress, following the discovery of jars of still-edible "ANT MEATBALLS," is currently being written. However, ethics boards have raised concerns about Goblin testing of the foodstuffs in question.)

Let us return to the Archmage and his seven Hydra heads. We have unearthed Spell Books in his laboratory that contain the most wicked of enchantments. From our reconstructions, we have determined that each head, one by one, was set in a contraption of gold wires and quartz, and the resulting piezoelectric energies used to _rejuvenate each head as an entity in its own right_. The marvelous regenerative properties of the Hydra--the fact that it could regrow two heads for each one lost--are surely what gave the Archmage this idea. This suggests exciting fields of research for healing and resurrection, especially since one of the old Analander spells, RES, has been lost to the ravages of time.

It appears that the Archmage then conceived the idea of a God-Headed Hydra to strike fear into his foes. In order to craft the mighty illusion--so mighty that its very image could slay the weak of will by administering such a psychological shock that death was sure to follow--he orchestrated _a week of blasphemies_. Indeed, nowhere but Mampang could this have been successful, given the miasma of evil that pervaded the place. On each of the seven days, he profaned a god whose powers he coveted for his God-Headed Hydra, and at the end of each of those days, the God-Headed Hydra grew a new head. Thus he blasphemed against Lunara, Hydana, Pangara, Glantanka, and the others, and thus their magics of darkness or water or wind or sun were subjugated to his will.

We have not been able to recover all of the rituals thus enacted. In particular, three of the remaining god-heads have yet to be named. We do have some useful information from those portions of the Archmage's notes that have been decoded, even if there is still some controversy over their proper interpretation. For example, the inverted ritual for Lunara shows a map of a moon not our own, covered with mining towns and strange automated vehicles for the transportation of extracted lunar minerals. The inverted ritual for Hydana involves using devices to harness the power of the waves to generate a sort of vital force--perhaps even the same vital force used to revive the Hydra's heads--but, according to the notes, it appears that a great many Sea-Dragons and Merfolk have been driven extinct by this destruction of their habitat. For Pangara there are analogous devices that whir in the wind, their cacophony driving birds out of the air and even carving away mountains until they are whittled into knives of stone.

Most terrifyingly of all, the Sun herself, Glantanka, is shown glaring at a city and setting it aflame. This last is the subject of the greatest controversy of all, for the maps clearly show an unimaginably vast city encompassing the whole of what is today the Baklands. However, we have never seen any evidence that the Baklands were home to such an immense metropolis. Surely, too, records would remain of such a thing--the existence of that city, and its destruction? Some scholars suggest that employment of the Analander spell ZED could have accounted for some of the historical discrepancies, but like RES, ZED has been lost to the passage of time, and even its effects are no longer known today.

Nevertheless, while we certainly would not condone a repetition of such heresy, this too suggests fruitful lines of research in creating magics that can advance our present-day civilization. For while the Archmage was indisputably evil, he was a genius of his time. It would be a shame not to benefit from his studies.

I hope that this report on Mampang studies has been fruitful to the esteemed reader, and that funding will be forthcoming for future excavations.

Humbly Yours,  
Farren Whyde IV


End file.
